IMO, Tillman may in fact not have bought in last year, but I also think that with Tillman, that it did not affect his play.

He was one of the only players that was effective prior to injury. However, I don't think it would be stretching the truth to say that he did not buy in. The defense played horribly. The guy who they envisioned as having led them to a top defense was gone. The new guy was stinking it up (even if it was not Tuckers fault, a fact is a fact). You dould see only partial effort on the field. People that did not like what they saw and did not have Tillmans work ethic had already packed it in (Peppers). In fact Peppers (through Briggs) had alluded that he was not being used right.

Put all that together and players were blaming Lovies departure, Tuckers entrance (or perhaps anyone not named Lovie would have seen the same ambivolence), or both. They had good reason to think that they were right because the product on the field sucked (even if they were partially the cause).

It was just a bad situation all the way around. I am not sure how much Tucker is liked or disliked, or how much of that is due to his having replaced Lovie, but there is no doubt in my mind that there was a lack of buyin from the defense in general. I had said almost from the beginning that I had never seen a dropoff like Peppers that was not related to an injury. That and the comments that Briggs made made me think that there was no buy-in early on. As a matter of fact, they made me think that Tucker was a part of the problem.

He still may be, but the defense will do well this year. Pas knows what he's doing and there has been largely a purging of people that were sorry to see Lovie go (I also think that was a factor in how they dealt with Urlacher). The defense will be much improved IMO and I think the Bears will be keeping a close eye on Tucker to see if the success is because of him or spite of him. They already have his replace ment if they come to the conlusion that he as part of the problem. I have been nothing but impressed by Pas. If Tucker can add to the success with his own abilities, I think we will have an exceptional year, but regardless I do not expect the D to be anywhere as bad as last year.

I got off the track a little (ok, a lot). Tillman even if he is one of the last holdouts is a true pro. And winning is contageous. If he was going to slack, he would have done it when the atmosphere was conducive to slacking (last year), and he didn't. This year there is more of a winning culture and most of the naysayers are gone. Winning has a way of being infectious. Tillman is going to be all in before it's over and even if he is not, he won't let it affect his play.

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